Our main story here takes place two months after the original films events and revolves around Patrick Wayne who was the brother of one of the victims from the first film, he returns to town and finds himself helping the farm woman from the first film, who is now being terrorized by the dog worshiping cult to give up her land for sacrifice, after they murder her husband. Our sheriff hero from the first film is also revealed to have went insane and is locked inside a mental institute. "Revenge" or "Blood Cult 2", defiantly has some changes going for it over the first film. For starters production increased and filming went from SOV beta cam to 16mm film. It now looks like a 1980s TV movie, they also managed to fork up enough cash to grab Patrick Wayne (John Wayne's son, who is obviously just here for the pay check as he's about as wooden as a post) and famous legend John Carradine (who was near the end of his life and looks very sickly). Director Christopher Lewis looks more confident behind the camera as well and his script which was written by himself gives the film a much tighter story and moves it out of the slasher territory of the first flick and into a more supernatural horror approach. This time around the killer and members of the blood cult can choke and/or cause a cerebral hemorrhage without using any physical contact whatsoever. It really helps the film manage to stand on its own two legs. However for all the improvements, the pacing is still slow and the films 100 minute run time could have probably been trimmed to 90 easily, its just to dang long. The kills are also not that great this time around either. However, the twist and final with the cult leaves me to give this a very generous 5 stars

The original "Blood Cult" has a certain appeal to it that the sequel lacks, though the films are nearly the same in quality. First of all, in "BC" I was amused by the innovation of using a Betacam to shoot an entire film. This is just a plain old low-budget horror film.

"Revenge" is not entirely without merit, though. There are certain bright spots, like the death scene in the jacuzzi where the water turns red from all the blood. I think part of the problem lies in the screenplay. The story was written by Joe Vance (an actor from the first film), but the screenplay was by Christopher Lewis, the director. Lewis has admitted that horror is not his favorite genre, so the film seems to have an identity crisis, trying to choose whether it wants to be a slasher flick or a "Columbo"-type mystery.

The acting is worse too. Most of the good actors--like Joseph Hardt, Bennie Lee McGowan and Charles Ellis (in a brief appearance)--were brought back from the original film. The rest are horrible. John Carradine is given next-to-top billing just to grab people's attention. First of all, he's only in the film for about 6 minutes, and second of all, he sleeps through those 6 minutes. What is legendary actor John Carradine doing in a low-budget, direct-to-video horror flick? Beats me. I guess senility caught up to him in the later years of life. Unfortunately, great veteran actors don't always leave this world having made a great films for their final appearances. That surely wasn't the case with Rod Steiger, and several others. The film's main error was the casting of Patrick Wayne in the lead role. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but that may have not been the case with him. His father, as I was baffled to discover, is screen legend John Wayne. Yes, The Duke himself. Patrick Wayne is an utter stoneface, not showing a hint of emotion from start to finish. I expect these kinds of performances from actors in direct-to-video horror movies, but not from The Duke's son. Supposedly, he's a veteran actor as well, having been in many westerns, including the hit "Young Guns." Well, hopefully if I decide to check out those films, I'll be oddly surprised.

Overall, "Revenge" is mildly watchable and not an utter disaster, but if you're searching for a rental this shouldn't be at the top of your list.

My score: 5 (out of 10)

Directed by Christopher Lewis, low-budget horror Revenge is the sequel to shot-on-video movie Blood Cult (1985), a film that I haven't seen, and which I now have no real desire to see.

Patrick Wayne, son of John, slums it as Michael Hogan, who returns to his home-town to investigate the death of his brother. Teaming up with widow Gracie Moore (Bennie Lee McGowan), he uncovers the existence of a murderous cult (led by ageing horror icon John Carradine) who worship the dog-god Caninus, and who are collecting body parts of their victims for use in a ritual that will resurrect their deity.

Protracted scenes of deathly dull dialogue make up the bulk of this 100-minute crap-fest, and remaining conscious throughout proves a challenge. Lewis tries to inject some excitement into proceedings with a mysterious motorcyclist intimidating Gracie by racing his bike and popping wheelies outside her farmhouse, but these scenes are poorly handled and go on for far too long. There are also a few ineptly orchestrated deaths designed to keep the viewer from nodding off: a farmer gets a hatchet in his forehead, a girl steps in a bear trap and has her leg cut off, a woman is burnt to death by supernatural means, and a girl in a jacuzzi is repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated. Unfortunately, the kills aren't that graphic, and what gore there is is cheap and unconvincing.

Kudos to anyone who makes it to the WTF? ending without having caught a few z's along the way.

2.5/10, generously rounded up to 3 for IMDb.